Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-06-05

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and went 20 sleep. But Jess did not 90
to sleep. She sat by him there throughout
the night, until at last the cold lights of
the dawn came cleaning through The win
dow ard fell upon the white face OF the
man she loved. He was still sleeping
soundly, and. As the night was exceedinlv
hot and oppressive, she had LEFT nothing
hut 4 sheet over HIM. Before she went TO
rest n little herself she turned TO look at
him once more, and as she did so saw the
sheet suddenly grow red with blood. The
artery had broken ont again.
Calling to the soldiers wife 10 run across
to the doctor, Jess shook her patient until
ne woke, for he was sleeping Sweetlv
through the whole thing. and would. no
doubt, have continued 10 do so until he
glided into a deeper sleep; and then be-
tween them they did what they could to
guench that dreadful pumping flow, Jess
knottlng her handkerchief round his leg
and twisting 1t with a stick, while he
pressed his thumb upon the severed artery.
Hut, strive rs they would, they were only
partially successful, and Jess began to
think that he would die in her arms from
loss of blood. 1t was agonizing 10 wait
there minute after minute AMI see his life
ebbing away.
II don't think | shall last much longer,
Jess. God bless you, dear" he said.
1.-The place is beginning To 20 round and
round
Poor soul, she could only set her teeth
and wait Tor the end.
Presently Johns pressure on the wound
ed artery relaxed, and he tainted OF, aud,
oddly enough, Just then the flow of blood
diminished considerably. Another five
minutes, and She heard the quick step of
the doctor coming up the path.
Thank God you have come, He has
hled dreadiully."
81 was out attending Il poor fellow who
was shot through the lung, and that fool of
Il woman waited for me Ia come back in
stead of following. | have brought you an
orderly instead of her. by JOvc, he has
hlcd. | suppose the silk has slipped.
Well, there is only one thing for it.
Orderly, the chlorotorm.',
And then followed another long half
hour of slashing and tying and horror, and
when at last the unfortunate John opened
his eyes again he was too weak To speak,
aud could only smile lcebly. For three
days after this he WAS in dangerous state.
for if the artery had broken out Tor the
third time the chances were that, having
50 little blood left in his veins, he would
die before anything could he done for him.
At times he was very deliriouS from weak
ness, and these were the dangerous hours,
for it was almost impossible 10 keep him
quiet, and every movement threw Jess into
an agony of terror lest the silk fIstcmimgs
oithe artery should break away. Indeed,
there was only one way in which sine could
keep him quiet, and that WAS laying her
slim white hand upon his forehead or
giving it to him to hold. Oddly enough,
this had more effect upon his lcycred mind
than anything else. For hour after hour
she would sit thus, though her arm ached,
and her back felt as if it were going to
break in two, until ut last she was rewarded
by seeing his wild eyes cease their wander
ings and close in peaceful sleep.
Yet with it all that week was perhaps
the happieSt time in her life. There he
lay, the man she loved with all the in
tensity other deep nature; and she minister
ell 10 him, and felt that he loved her, and
depended on her as Il babe upon its mother.
Even in his delirium her name was con-
t~inually on his lips, and generally with
some endcaring term before it. She felt in
those dark hours of doubt and sickness as
though they two were growing life To life,
knit M in a divine identity she could not
~analyze or understand. She felt that it
was 50. and she believed that, Oncc being
so. whatever her future might he, that
communion could never be dissolved, and
therefore was she happy, though she knew
that his recovery meant their lifelong
separation. For though Jess had once,
when thrown utterly OF her balance, given
her passion way, il vas not 4 thing she
meant to repeat. She had, she felt, injured
Bessie enough already in taking her future
husbands heart. That she could not help
now, but she would take no more. John
should 90 back to her sister.
And so she sat and gazed at that sleeping
man through the long watches of the might,
and was happy. There lay her JOY. Soon
he would he taken from her and she would
he left drsOlate, but while he lay there he
was hers. II was passing sweet to her
wOman's heart to lay her hand upon him
and see him sleep, for this desire to watch
the sleep of beloved object is one of the
highest and StrangeSt manifestations of
passion. Truly. and with Il keen insight
into the human heart, has the poet said
that there is no JOY like the JOY of 4 wO-
man watching what she loves asleep. As
Jess sat and glzed, those beautiful and
tender lines come floating into her mind,
and she thought how true they were:
For there it lies. 80 tranquil. so beloved.
All that il hath ct life with It's is livcug:
So gentle. %StIrly>>. helpless and mmOyri.
o. And AN unconscious Of the iuy Ills giyiu".
NIl il hath fell. inflicted. passed. umd proved,
lIu.h'l int" depths h"y"ud the watcher
There lir> the thing We love with all its errors
And all its charms, lik" death withuut its
trrrrr~.'
Az. there lay the thing she loved.
The time went on and the artery broke
out 10 more, and then ut last cam" 4 morn-
ing when John opened hiscyes and watched
the pale, earnest face bending over him rs
though he were trying 10 remember some
thing. Presently he shut his eyes again.
He had remembered.
II have been very i'll, Jess" he said
after a pause.
lNN, bbIl. |
"And you have unused mc''
''Yrs, John
"Am ! going to recovcr:'
"Of course you mc.'
lie shut his eyes again.
81 suppose there is no news from out
side"
"NO more; things are Just the same
"NOT from BESSIE
"Nonc; wc are quite cut on
Then came a pause.
"JOhn, - saiu less, 81 want la say some
thing to you. When people are dclirions,
or when delirium is coming on, they III
times say things that they are not response
bile for, and which had better he forgotten
eyes, he said; 81 understand
&C., she wcntOn, in the SAINT measured
tone, 1--WE will forget everything you may
that You said, or that | did, since
the time When you came in wounded and
found that | had tainted
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